Calling the Bluff
by Cke1st
Summary: There are lots of stories about how Hiccup and Astrid might have gotten engaged. Here's another one. I know it doesn't line up with how Vikings actually did these things, but it makes a nice story anyway. These events take place immediately after "Heather Report." Hiccstrid (of course).


**Calling the Bluff**

Hiccup was very close to panic. "Astrid, I swear it will _never_ happen again!"

Astrid wasn't even close to convinced. "I never thought it could happen in the first place!" She had him up against the wall of the training ring. She almost wished she had her axe handy, so she could pin his throat between the points of it, like she'd done the day he beat her in Dragon Training. "I thought you and I had something special going. But there she was, the mystery girl washed up on the beach, telling her sad story about her family and pirates, oh boo hoo hoo! And you fell for it, hook, line and sinker! You fell for _her!_"

"I was just trying to be nice, that's all! Honest!"

"Oh, you were nice," she growled. "She snooped around in your room, and you made excuses for her. She pushed every boy here for knowledge about dragons, while she blew off the girls, and you made excuses for her. She had _contact_ with the _Outcasts_ and you made _excuses_ for her!"

"Okay, okay, I was wrong about that, I admit it!"

"You were wrong about _everything!_ But what hurts me the most is that I warned you, and you didn't believe me. You trusted the mystery girl more than you trusted _me!_"

"...Yeah. You're right. That was really stupid." He hung his head, and she knew he was really sorry now, and not just agreeing with her to avoid trouble. He'd get the trouble anyway, but now she wouldn't enjoy it so much.

"Hiccup, you're too nice a guy. You're smart, you're good with dragons, you're a natural leader... but you're too quick to put all your trust in a pretty face."

"Like yours?" he half-grinned.

She tried to keep her mad face on. "Obviously, my pretty face isn't enough, or this never would have happened. I don't like what I saw in you, Hiccup. Can I still trust you? What's going to happen the next time a mystery girl washes up on the beach, or gets found in the forest, or... or falls out of the sky?"

Hiccup laughed. "Astrid, you're exaggerating. Mysterious girls don't fall out of the sky."

"I didn't think they washed up on beaches, either, until that pretty little brunette showed up and started scrambling your brains with her feminine wiles. Hiccup, you know a lot about dragons, and inventions, and working with metal, but you know _nothing_ about women. You have _no idea_ how devious they can be."

"Whereas _you_ know _everything_ about them?" Hiccup countered.

"I know enough that _none_ of this would have happened if you'd _listened_ to me," she shot back.

"So you think you ought to watch out for me and keep me safe from all those evil females?" He had a calculating look about him; she wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"_Somebody's_ got to do it for you," she said. "You obviously can't do it yourself."

"Okay, then," he smiled. "Will you marry me?"

Her mad face instantly turned into her shocked face. "_Huh?_"

"You said it yourself," he went on. "I need someone to help look after me. And we never know when the next mystery girl is going to show up, so I need that someone next to me all the time. That means I have to be married to her. And _you're_ the one who thinks she knows what's best for me, so... will you marry me?"

In the sudden silence, she heard something stirring behind her. She didn't have to look; she knew that the other teens had quietly entered the Academy, and were watching and listening to everything.

Hiccup had just proposed to her, in front of witnesses.

Her initial reaction was to accept immediately. But was that her best response? She saw a sparkle in his eye. He wasn't nervous, like boys are supposed to be when they propose. And why would he have asked her in front of all their friends? Something didn't add up.

Then she realized – she'd been pushing him pretty hard to accept her help. Had she pushed too hard? Had she backed him into a corner where he thought a proposal was his only option? Or maybe... _maybe_ he was just trying to embarrass her in front of their friends, as payback for saying he couldn't function without a girl's help. _Maybe_ he didn't really mean it, and he assumed she'd refuse because she was mad at him. If that was the case...

"Did you think I was bluffing, about what I said?" she asked, trying to sound nervous.

"Yup," he grinned, "and I'm calling your bluff."

For a moment, she stared at him blankly. Then she reached forward, grabbed his shirt, and half-growled, "No, I think _you're_ the one who's bluffing. And _I'm_ calling!" His grin vanished as his eyes went wide. She'd guessed right. It was her turn to grin.

She leaned in until their lips almost met, and whispered, "Gotcha!" just before laying an epic lip-lock on him.

When she finally let him go, he fell back against the stone wall in a blissed-out daze. She cleared her throat. "Very well, Hiccup. I accept your proposal. Now let's find out what our parents think, shall we?" Behind her, she heard a disgusted grunt and some retreating footsteps. That had to be Snotlout, storming off in defeat.

Ruffnut looked at Hiccup's face, thought of Heather, and cackled. "He's out of the frying pan and into the fire!"

Tuff was confused. "What? Did she hit him with a frying pan? He sure looks that way."

"Oooh, this could be so romantic!" Fishlegs gushed. "Maybe Toothless will be the best man."

Astrid smiled with contentment at a good day's work. "From now on, when a mystery girl washes up on the beach, I can tell her you're already taken. And if you _still_ act like an idiot around her, I will look out for you, by _beating... you... senseless_. Got it?"

Hiccup finally found his voice. "Well, I admit you're right about one thing.

"I had _no idea_ how devious women can be."

_THE END_


End file.
